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39-457: As surveyed by VAC its per-issue circulation average as of January 25, 2011, was once 119,971 copies, and its average weekly readership was once 804,000 as of 2009. Its website traffic once ranked 92,215 globally and 5,395 within Canada, according to November 2, 2021, figures from Alexa . In January 2020, the newspaper's acquisition by Media Central Corporation was announced, a few weeks after

78-601: A third-party -supplied Mozilla plug-in called Search Status for the Firefox browser served as the only option for Firefox users after Amazon abandoned its A9 toolbar. On July 16, 2007, Alexa released an official toolbar for Firefox called Sparky. On 16 April 2008, many users reported drastic shifts in their Alexa rankings. Alexa confirmed this later in the day with an announcement that they had released an updated ranking system, claiming that they would now take into account more sources of data "beyond Alexa Toolbar users". Using

117-546: A kitchen, lunch room, exercise room, large patio area, and a shower for employees. (We hope the cyclists make use of it.) Extensive landscaping, including 11 trees and various shrubs, transforms the Pine Street side of the site and the back alley. The emblematic Mr. Wuxtry appears on a flag hanging on the Broadway side of the building. The Straight's move comes as this section of the Broadway corridor experiences significant growth with

156-404: A newspaper, and qualify for exemption from PST on printing bills. The extensive "Time Out" listing of the paper, detailing the what and where of virtually every public event in the city, was judged to be advertising – pushing the paper below the required thresholds for a newspaper. Publisher Dan McLeod said this re-interpretation of the rules was a politically motivated attempt to silence

195-509: A persistent critic: "We're the only paper that is consistently critical of the government in our editorials week after week, and we're the only paper that's being fined a million dollars," he said. "So I put two and two together." However, not everyone agreed with McLeod's interpretation of events and pointed out that The Straight had a significantly lower editorial-to-advertising ratio than many other alternative and university papers. This highly public battle garnered considerable attention, and

234-539: A purely analytics-focused company. On March 31, 2009, Alexa revealed a major website redesign. The redesigned site provided new web traffic metrics, including average page views per individual user, bounce rate (the rate of users who come to and then leave a webpage), and user time on the website . In the following weeks, Alexa added more features, including visitor demographics, clickstream , and web search traffic statistics. During this period, Alexa's algorithm had been evolving along with it. Statistics projection and

273-415: A reasonable doubt , with the judge noting that no evidence was provided as to the meaning of the word muffdiving and that he could not take judicial notice of a word that he had not previously heard. Those controversies ended in the 1970s, as the paper moved to become a more conventional news and entertainment weekly, albeit with a progressive editorial slant. Bob Geldof worked as a music journalist for

312-505: A specific audience subgroup was reluctant to take part in the rankings. This caused some controversies over how representative Alexa's user base was of typical Internet behavior, especially for less-visited sites. In 2007, Michael Arrington provided examples of Alexa rankings known to contradict data from the comScore web analytics service, including ranking YouTube ahead of Google. In 2021 John Mueller from Google confirmed again that Google does not use Amazon Alexa Rank. Until 2007,

351-578: A toolbar; instead, it used data from users that had installed any of a number of browser extensions and from websites that had the Alexa script installed on their webpages. Alexa replaced their toolbar with browser extensions. These extensions were made available for Google Chrome and Firefox browsers. The Alexa browser extension displayed the Alexa Traffic Rank for websites, showed related websites, provided search analytics, and quickly allowed users to view

390-809: The Georgia Straight in the 1970s before he returned to Ireland and joined the Boomtown Rats . In the mid-1990s a second Straight newspaper in Calgary , Alberta , called the Calgary Straight was produced, however, its existence was brief. Regulatory controversy erupted again in October 2003, when the provincial government sent The Straight a bill totalling more than $ 1 million for outstanding provincial sales tax . In British Columbia, print publications must have at least 25 per cent editorial content to be considered

429-586: The Alexa Pro service, website owners could sign up for "certified statistics", which allowed Alexa more access to a website's traffic data. Site owners input JavaScript code on each page of their website that, if permitted by the user's security and privacy settings, ran and sent traffic data to Alexa, allowing Alexa to display—or not display, depending on the owner's preference—more accurate statistics such as total page views and unique page views. The Boomtown Rats Too Many Requests If you report this error to

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468-495: The Alexa homepage, and the Alexa ranking of the website that the user is visiting. It also allowed the user to rate the website and view links to external, relevant websites. In early 2005, Alexa stated that there had been 10 million downloads of the toolbar, though the company did not provide statistics about active usage. Originally, web pages were only ranked amongst users who had the Alexa Toolbar installed, and could be biased if

507-597: The American advice columnist Dan Savage with his Savage Love , commentator Gwynne Dyer, cartoons, and a local astrology column. The newspaper's editorial slant is strongly left wing as conceived in the Canadian political spectrum. The Straight has been criticized for publishing cigarette and other tobacco advertising when most publications in Canada have declined to do so for moral and ethical reasons. And of promoting local events that had tobacco industry sponsorship, such as

546-546: The BC government later reversed their decision, stating "clearly the Georgia Straight is a newspaper..." 2006 The Straight moves into its own completely renovated four-storey building at 1701 West Broadway. Architect J. Kerrigan Sproule upgrades a commercial building constructed in 1948 by adding one more level of underground parking and a fourth-floor amenity space with spectacular views of the city. The fourth-floor addition includes

585-682: The City of Vancouver, 61 percent of all adults 18+ reported reading a copy of the Georgia Straight within the past six issues. By comparison, 48% of respondents indicated reading the Vancouver Sun within the past six issues (past week). The Province followed with 41% reading a copy within the past six issues (past week). The free daily, 24 Hours, had a weekly (past six issue) readership of 38%, followed by Metro at 25%. The Straight carries feature articles, ranging from social topics, such as drug use and gentrification to in-depth looks at cultural newsmakers like

624-539: The Georgia Straight continued publishing, even as regular paycheques stopped coming in. On September 27, 2022, Overstory Media Group announced it had acquired the assets of the Georgia Straight for an undisclosed sum. Around a dozen remaining employees at the Straight, including longstanding editor Charlie Smith, were fired shortly before the acquisition and did not receive unpaid wages, severance, or vacation pay. Overstory Media Group has declined to pay back wages, calling it

663-657: The Internet Archive through the Wayback Machine. They were last updated in May 2020, two years prior to the service's closure. Alexa used to rank sites based primarily on tracking a sample set of Internet traffic—users of its browser toolbar for the Internet Explorer , Firefox and Google Chrome web browsers. The Alexa Toolbar included a popup blocker (which stops unwanted ads), a search box, links to Amazon.com and

702-472: The addition of several new restaurants and retail outlets. On March 2, 2020, Media Central Corporation Inc. announced it has closed its acquisition of Vancouver Free Press Corp, owner and operator of the Georgia Straight . The company paid $ 1.25 million (included fees associated with the transaction) in cash and shares. Media Central Corporation filed for bankruptcy in March 2022. Long-time editors and contributors to

741-434: The cessation of its website ranking and competitive analysis service, which has been available to the public for more than 25 years. From that day on, it was no longer possible to create accounts or buy subscriptions on the service. The statement first published on its website specifies the total cessation of the service as of May 1, 2022. Existing subscriptions would be available until May 1, 2022, UTC, after which everything on

780-565: The city's licensing inspector to suspend the paper for "gross misconduct" contrary to city bylaws. The paper's business license was suspended September 9, 1967, making it illegal for them to sell papers. McLeod announced that he would continue to publish, giving the paper away and asking for donations. During the time the license was suspended, city police attempted to confiscate the "free" papers and to take donation money away from vendors, though any who refused to hand over money or papers were left alone. In addition, McLeod and others associated with

819-578: The company donated a copy of the archive, two terabytes in size, to the Library of Congress . Alexa continued to supply the Internet Archive with web crawls. In 1999, as the company moved away from its original vision of providing an "intelligent" search engine , Alexa was acquired by Amazon.com for approximately US$ 250 million in Amazon stock . Alexa began a partnership with Google in early 2002 and with

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858-642: The formerly Benson and Hedges-sponsored Symphony of Fire. The Straight has long been condemned for this practice by the major health groups and, more recently, by Vancouver businessman and political candidate Dale Jackaman in a series of Google attack ads. Alexa Internet Alexa Internet, Inc. was a web traffic analysis company based in San Francisco , California . It was founded as an independent company by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat in 1996. Alexa provided web traffic data, global rankings, and other information on over 30 million websites. It

897-614: The mayor for his actions. On October 6, the Canadian Post Office ruled that the paper was not obscene, allowing for distribution by mail; nonetheless, street vending remained illegal without a city business license. On appeal, the appellate court agreed to lift the suspension on the grounds that a hearing should have been provided to explain why the paper was suspended, but did not rule on the BCCLA's freedom-of-the-press argument. The BCCLA provided further legal assistance to Dan McLeod and

936-437: The paper were subjected to violent attacks. The British Columbia Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) challenged the suspension in court by arguing that only federal laws could restrict freedom-of-the-press . On this matter, the daily papers Vancouver Sun and The Province both weighed in on the side of the Georgia Straight . The initial challenge filed October 2, 1967 was unsuccessful, with Justice Thomas Dohm praising

975-453: The paper when both were criminally charged with three counts of obscenity for publishing a photograph, an advertisement described as being titled "Young man wants to meet women to 30 years old for Muffdiving , etc," and an article titled "Penis de Milo Created by Cynthia Plaster-Caster." McLeod and the paper were acquitted on all three charges due to the Crown having failed to prove its case beyond

1014-409: The rank is calculated from a combination of daily visitors and page views on a website over a three-month period. The Alexa Traffic Rank could be used to monitor the popularity trend of a website and compare the popularity of different websites. The traffic rank used to be determined from data recollected from users that had the Alexa toolbar installed on their browser. As of 2020, Alexa did not use

1053-946: The responsibility of the previous owner. On April 8, 2024, the BC Employment Standards Branch ruled that Overstory Media must pay $ 270,819.02 in unpaid wages to the group of former employees. Overstory Media made headlines in December 2023 for laying off employees who had voted to unionize in an apparent attempt to quash their union drive. In March 2024, Overstory announced that former BC Premier and former Jim Pattison executive Glen Clark has taken over as Interim CEO. Clark resigned as Premier after Conflict of interest commissioner H.A.D. Oliver concluded in 2001 that Clark had violated conflict of interest laws in British Columbia. A readership survey conducted on behalf of The Georgia Straight in 2007 found that: In its core market of

1092-439: The same company announced a deal to acquire the similar Toronto publication Now . In September 2022, after Media Central Corporation filed for bankruptcy, The Straight was acquired by Overstory Media Group. The paper was founded as an underground newspaper in May 1967 by Pierre Coupey , Milton Acorn , Dan McLeod , Stan Persky , and others, and originally it operated as a collective. In April 1967: "The proposed paper

1131-528: The second issue, but an alternative was found. In 1972, original staff members left Georgia Straight to publish the competitor bi-weekly The Grape . On May 12, 1967, the paper was raided and fined by the Vancouver Police for publishing obscenities, and was often banned from distribution for its criticism of the local police and politicians. Vancouver mayor Tom Campbell described the paper as "filth" and, objecting of its sale to "school children," urged

1170-453: The site would be removed and replaced with an "End of Service Notice". The alexa.com domain is now a landing page for Amazon Alexa products. A key metric published from Alexa Internet analytics was the Alexa Traffic Rank, also simply known as Alexa Rank. It was also referred to as Global Rank by Alexa Internet and was designed to be an estimate of a website's popularity. As of May 2018 , Alexa Internet's tooltip for Global Rank said

1209-475: The use of their technology associated with a large network of certificated websites allowed them to keep ahead of the website traffic metrics around the world. Because of this, many large sites were using it as the main reference for popularity on the internet. On November 6, 2014, Amazon announced Amazon Alexa , their virtual assistant . Amazon already had trademarks for Alexa due to their ownership of Alexa Internet, Inc. On December 8, 2021, Amazon announced

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1248-551: The web directory DMOZ in January 2003. In December 2005, Alexa opened its extensive search index and Web-crawling facilities to third-party programs through a comprehensive set of Web services and APIs . These could be used, for instance, to construct vertical search engines that could run on Alexa's servers or elsewhere. In May 2006, Google was replaced by Windows Live Search as a provider of search results. In December 2006, Amazon released Alexa Image Search. Built in-house, it

1287-411: The writer Salman Rushdie . Former editor Charlie Smith has a record of covering women's movement issues as well as COVID-19, the climate, diverse communities, and arts and culture. There are also many articles and listings on lifestyle and entertainment, commenting on restaurants, new wines, new gadgets, designer clothes, and the latest in music, theatre, and movies. Rounding out the regular features are

1326-590: Was acquired by Amazon in 1999 for $ 250 million in stock. Amazon discontinued the Alexa Internet service on May 1, 2022. Alexa estimated website traffic based on a sample of millions of Internet users using browser extensions as well as from sites that had chosen to install an Alexa script.  As of 2020, its website was visited by over 400 million people every month. Alexa Internet was founded in April 1996 by Brewster Kahle and Bruce Gilliat . The company's name

1365-552: Was chosen in homage to the Library of Alexandria in Ptolemaic Egypt , drawing a parallel between the largest repository of knowledge in the ancient world and the potential of the Internet to become a similar store of knowledge. Alexa initially offered a toolbar that gave Internet users suggestions on where to go next based on the traffic patterns of its user community. The company also offered context for each site visited: to whom it

1404-584: Was christened the Georgia Straight over beer at the Cecil Hotel. The name aims to play on the fact that the weather forecasts will offer free publicity: they're always issuing gale warnings for the Georgia Strait ." On May 5, 1967, the first issue was presented and cost ten cents. It was originally a biweekly newspaper. On May 12, Dan McLeod was taken away in a paddy wagon and jailed for three hours for "investigation of vagrancy." College Printers refused to print

1443-471: Was registered, how many pages it had, how many other sites pointed to it, and how frequently it was updated. Alexa's operations grew to include the archiving of web pages as they are "crawled" and examined by an automated computer program (nicknamed a "bot" or "web crawler"). This database served as the basis for the creation of the Internet Archive , accessible through the Wayback Machine . In 1998,

1482-449: Was stealing traffic graphs for profit and that the primary purpose of his site was to display graphs that were generated by Alexa's servers. Hornbaker had removed the term Alexa from his service name on March 19, 2007. On November 27, 2008, Amazon announced that Alexa Web Search was no longer accepting new customers and that the service would be deprecated or discontinued for existing customers on January 26, 2009. Thereafter, Alexa became

1521-524: Was the first major application built on the company's Web platform. In May 2007, Alexa changed their API to limit comparisons to three websites, reduce the size of embedded graphs in Flash , and add mandatory embedded BritePic advertisements. In April 2007, the company filed a lawsuit, Alexa v. Hornbaker, to stop trademark infringement by the Statsaholic service. In the lawsuit, Alexa alleged that Ron Hornbaker

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